Shell’s Setback Highlights Environmental Risks of Drilling in Arctic Waters
Sea ice in the Chukchi Sea, 2011. Photo: NASA/CC By 2.0
Shell has stopped drilling for oil in the Arctic—for now. After an oil containment system was damaged on Saturday, the company said it was forced to scale back operations in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas until next summer. Shell won’t complete any wells this year, but will continue preparatory work this season, drilling “top holes” that will eventually extend into oil-bearing zones.
Energy experts estimate that one million barrels of oil a day could come out of the Alaska’s Arctic seas, about 10 percent of current domestic production. Companies are lining up behind Shell to tap into the rich oil fields. Meanwhile, environmentalists are calling for more data on the effects of offshore drilling on marine life there, and for more protections for the most sensitive areas.
The setback—the latest of many that Shell has encountered in its controversial $4.5 billion endeavor to plumb the rich oil fields in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas—shows just how perilous development in the frigid waters is, say environmental groups.
“After countless promises about how ready they are, the truth is evident for all to see,” says Eric Myers, director of policy for Audubon Alaska. “It’s painfully obvious: Shell is not prepared to drill for oil safely in the Arctic Ocean.”
On Saturday, Shell’s containment barge, the Arctic Challenger, was in Puget Sound, Washington, completing the final trials needed before the Obama administration would give the green light to drill deep enough to reach oil. During the test, the high-tech dome built to contain oil in the event of an underwater spill was damaged.
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Noble Discoverer. Photo: Shell |
Electrical problems and other issues have plagued the Arctic Challenger for weeks, requiring extensive upgrades to earn U.S. Coast Guard certification. The company has faced other complications: In July, Shell’s drillship Noble Discoverer slipped its moorings in Alaska’s Dutch Harbor, and drifted toward to shore. Last week work in the Chukchi Sea come to a stop when an ice floe 30 miles long and 12 miles wide threatened the vessel.
“Shell’s continued equipment problems showed how really tough it is to develop oil spill prevention and response systems, period, much less ones that will work in such an extreme environment as the Arctic Ocean,” says Marilyn Heiman, director of the Pew Environment Group’s U.S. Arctic Program. Heiman stresses the need for Arctic-specific standards for preventing and responding to an oil spill: “This real-life example of what could go wrong also makes it even more urgent that the Interior Department identify and protect sensitive areas that are crucial for Arctic wildlife or are used by indigenous communities that practice a traditional way of life.”
In 2011, a USGS report found that there are scientific gaps in how energy development on the outer continental shelf will affect wildlife. Conservationists fear that a big spill could devastate the rich array of wildlife the seas support much like the Exxon Valdez spill did in 1989.
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Spectacled eider, listed as threatened, take to the Chukchi and Beaufort seas outside of the breeding season. Photo: Laura L. Whitehouse/USFWS/CC By 2.0 |
The bays, inlets, and river outlets of the Chukchi, for instance, provide breeding, feeding, and staging areas for millions birds, including threatened spectacled eiders, yellow-billed loons, and Kittlitz’s murrelets. To complicate matters, some species are already beset by rising temperatures and dwindling sea ice (Arctic sea ice hit a record low extent this summer). Female walruses and their calves have long hauled out on sea ice, resting before diving back into the icy waters to forage for clams, snails, and other invertebrates on the seafloor; now, they’re increasingly forced to haul out on land, where food may be scarce and young risk being trampled.
“Arctic seas are far too important to the preservation of birds, polar bears and other wildlife to chance an ice-locked, BP-style blowout,” says David Yarnold, Audubon President and CEO. “Science does not support drilling in America’s Arctic Ocean, and neither does common sense. We're going to keep fighting for an ambitious U.S. energy policy and protections that our waters wildlife and future generations desperately need.”
In July a coalition of conservation groups, including Audubon, the Natural Resources Defense Council, the Center for Biological Diversity, and Oceana, sued the federal government over its approval of Shell’s oil spill response plans for an Arctic Ocean drilling program. Rebecca Noblin, Alaska director at the CBD, said, “This reprieve for our pristine Arctic Ocean gives the Obama government yet another opportunity to stop drilling operations before they truly get underway.”
At this point, however, the Obama administration is still backing Shell. “Through Shell's efforts, tremendous progress has been made and valuable lessons will be learned as the company carefully and deliberately moves forward with Arctic exploration activities,” says Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar. “As part of President Obama’s all-of-the-above energy strategy, we look forward to continuing to work with Shell to maximize the remaining opportunities this drilling season provides while doing so in a manner that expands domestic energy production, creates jobs, protects people, and safeguards our natural resources.”
The lawsuit hasn’t affected drilling this year, Oceana attorney Michael LeVine told the AP, but if the coalition succeeds in getting the approvals set aside, it could prevent drilling in future seasons.
Comments
Hooray...double Hooray!!!
There is hope. Advocate groups and volunteers may just save our planet. Keep up the great (and critically important ) work. We out here will help all we can.
Advocacy without any action is really vain. We have to do something. Engineers must continue to go for renewable energy researches without the bias for the capitalists.
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The bays, inlets, and river outlets of the Chukchi, for instance, provide breeding, feeding, and staging areas for millions birds, including threatened spectacled eiders, yellow-billed loons, and Kittlitz’s murrelets. To complicate matters, some species are already beset by rising temperatures and dwindling sea ice (Arctic sea ice hit a record low extent this summer). Female walruses and their calves have long hauled out on sea ice, resting before diving back into the icy waters to forage for clams, snails, and other invertebrates on the seafloor; now, they’re increasingly forced to haul out on land, where food may be scarce and young risk being trampled.
“Arctic seas are far too important to the preservation of birds, polar bears and other wildlife to chance an ice-locked, BP-style blowout,” says David Yarnold, Audubon President and CEO. “Science does not support drilling in America’s Arctic Ocean, and neither does common sense. We're going to keep fighting for an ambitious U.S. energy policy and protections that our waters wildlife and future generations desperately need.”
Humans are lessened every time we loose a bird, animal, or sea creature. Will we never learn that there is a balance in this planet that must be respected. Thanks for all you do.
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What a beautiful creature the Spectacled eider -- all the creatures of this earth are beautiful in their own way, and one of our charges as "masters" of this earth is to steward all of its resources, to protect and preserve, but the almighty dollar has surplanted the Almighty's charge for us to conserve and protect the wonders He's bestowed. We have to find ways to do things better, without destroying in one area for gains in others. If there is at all a risk to living creatures on this planet due to our endeavors, then we have a solemn duty to find a better way. I thank you, too, for your gallant efforts to the benefit of our natural wonders and treasures.
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Please keep up the good work! WE are not the only living things on this earth!
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EL ARTICO ESTA EN PELIGRO, LOS OSOS POLARES YA NO TIENEN COMO SOSTENERSE POR EL DESHIELO, LO MISMO QUE LAS DEMAS ESPECIES. SI NO SE HACE ALGO AL RESPECTO SE ACABARAN LOS ANIMALES MARAVILLOSOS QUE ALLI HABITAN. SE ENCUENTRAN AMENAZADOS POR LA CAZA FURTIVA Y EL DESHIELO. MENOS MAS QUE LA SHELL DESISTIO DE PERFORAR EL ARTICO, HUBIERA CAUSA UN DAÑO IRREPARABLE. ES MUY TRISTE PENSAR QUE EL OSO POLAR Y DEMAS CRIATURAS SE LES ESTE ACABANDO SU HABITAT, POR EL CALENTAMIENTO GLOBAL, QUE EL MISMO HOMBRE HA CAUSADO.
Thanks, David, for keeping us informed of the progress. Thank you, also, for making it simple for us to help, by offering your sample letter.
I'm SO happy to hear Shell has backed off. You can count on me next year. Keep in touch. Barbara Smith (That's my real name.)
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Shell, and all other oil companies, should stay out of the Arctic! It's time human beings started to do the right, tough things to protect our planet.
They must put sea patrols along Artics Water. We must protect our sea animals, birds and other artics animals.
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Shell, and all other oil companies, should stay out of the Arctic!
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Why is it that the DOI acts like a sales agent for our land and our future? We are suffering under an inherently and profoundly corrupt electoral system that will produce riches for psychopaths and ruin for living things. We tolerate this system at our own peril. It seems clear that few of us can survive this corporate control. So why go along with it another day? It's a total fraud.
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We tolerate this system at our own peril. It seems clear that few of us can survive this corporate control. So why go along with it another day? It's a total fraud.
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The land and adjacent waters are government owned. So any government can stop them on land or waters they control. All these impacts are well documented and add that to the fact we really don't have any data on the geology and that we don't do a good job being stewards for the land and you can see why there is cause for concern. Thanks.
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At this point, however, the Obama administration is still backing Shell. Event management in Dubai
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